


Love me like you do (touch me like you do)

by orphan_account



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Fraternity, Confident Harry, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Frat Boy Harry, Height Differences, Innocent Louis, M/M, Nerd Louis, Older Harry, Shy Louis, Size Difference, Slight Niall/Barbara, Slight Sophiam, Smut, Social Anxiety, Tiny Louis, Younger Louis, because I shipped them, slight Zerrie
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-20
Updated: 2016-02-24
Packaged: 2018-03-13 21:09:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3396413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis is the shy, socially awkward little nerd who may as well consider invisibility as a superpower and Harry is the overly-confident fratboy with no sense of responsibility and a lucky hand.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 1

[ ](http://s1054.photobucket.com/user/AkvileEagle/media/ShyLouisFratHarryStoryPic_zps7bf7028c.png.html)

“Louis, please!”

“No.”

“Oh come on, you never come out with us!”

“I said no.”

“Louuuu…”

Peeking over the top of his book, Louis attempted to glare intimidatingly. In reality, he just managed to look like a bunny with a scrunched nose. 

“You know I don’t like that sort of scene El. I don’t even know why you’d want me there anyway.” He grumbled, turning back to his book and pushing his glasses up his nose a little.

“Because you’re never having any fun Lou, your life revolves around books and studies and this is your first year of college and you are yet to go to a real party!” Eleanor whined, dropping next to Louis on his bed.

“I have fun, plenty of fun because I love to read, I don’t need drugs and alcohol to have a good time. I-I prefer to get high on life…” Louis trailed off, a blush coating his cheeks as he realised how lame he sounded, curling in on himself a little.

Eleanor sat up and stared at him with a gentle and somewhat concerned expression. Louis glanced at her and immediately looked away when he noticed her gaze.

“Lou it’s just, you’re 17, you put so much pressure on yourself to always stay on top of your studies and I’m not saying that’s a bad thing but you have to let loose some times, forget your responsibilities for at least one night,” she spoke softly, placing a hand on his arm, “I just worry about you sometimes Lou, you hardly ever go out, I-I’ve never seen you with anyone apart from me and Pez. I don’t want you to go through your entire life not making any good memories, especially during college. _This_ is the time to go a little crazy, you know?”

Louis lowered his book to his lap, his shaking hands dog-earing the page he was on and closing it silently. With a tight grip on the paper, he sighed and shook his head.

He knew. He knew that he’s 17, going on to 18, caring about nothing other than his classes and books, cruising through every day without making a single imprint in someone’s life, nor have anyone else making any in his. 2 months into his first year at college and people in his lectures still either completely look past him as if he isn’t there, or stare at him as if they’ve never seen him before. Despite the fact that they have; because he has not missed a single class in his entire 17 years of life. He’s just completely unremarkable. Not important enough, not special enough, to turn a single head and have anyone remember him for more than a second.

And sometimes he’s lonely, but he has Eleanor and he has Perrie and he has his mum and his sisters, even if they are thousands of miles away back in his small Doncaster hometown, it’s alright because he is in New Jersey, living his dream of studying psychology along with a minor in French. He loves his family more than anything, being constantly plagued by homesickness, but he chased the dream of Princeton for years and now he’s here. So he refuses to regret it.

“Honestly El, I’m alright you know, I’m not like upset or anything. I’m just invisible, it was the same in England and it’s the same here. I’m fine with it.” Louis shrugged half-heartedly and got off the bed to put away his book on cognitive psychology. Hearing some shuffling, he turned around and jumped when he noticed Eleanor on her knees in front of him with her hands clasped under her chin and eyes wide.

“Come on Louis, pretty please? Perrie and I miss you. One party. Just one. Pleaseeee?” She begged, jutting out her bottom lip in a pout. 

Louis fumbled clumsy fingers through some strands of hair by his ear as he thought his options through. In an attempt to sprout more excuses, he opened his mouth but was once again interrupted by his best friend.

“You don’t even need to like, stay the whole night you know? We can go for literally just an hour! If you really hate it, we’ll leave, I’ll take you back here and you can go back to your book and I promise I won’t try to drag you out ever again if you genuinely have a miserable time. So, please Lou? I just want you to have some fun.” Eleanor finished rambling, almost out of breath. She desperately wanted her darling little Lou to have a good time at least once in college. She knew, despite what he said, he wasn’t as okay with himself as he led on. And she couldn’t live with herself knowing her best friend wasn’t as happy as he deserves to be.

Considering it, Louis realised that that was definitely a very generous offer. He didn’t have to stay long and no more future invites? 

“A-alright, okay fine. I-I’ll, I’ll go with you…” He mumbled, wringing his hands together, “but I’m not drinking! And, and, I don’t, you can’t make me, like, interact with other humans… and stuff.” he trailed off, feeling pretty pathetic at his own words, but that was Louis, that was how he was. 

He was alright with being a wallflower. He was alright with being invisible. Anything is better than being surrounded by people who are waiting to take their turn to hurt you.

——————————

“Where is this party exactly?” Louis asked quietly as he stood in front of the mirror and tugged on his engulfing oversized cream-colored sweater that had sleeves long enough to go over his small hands, with black skinny jeans that were rolled up at the bottom to show off his thin ankles and his tiny feet were covered in his favourite white vans that he once drew a smiley faces on. He fixed his hair to the side with a few random strands sticking up. He was about to place his glasses back on his face but Eleanor jumped up before he could.

“Nuh-uh-uh, I don’t think so! No glasses tonight, you’re showing off those baby blues!” She grinned, folding the glasses up and placing them on Louis’ desk. 

“B-but I can’t see well without them El!” Louis sputtered and tried stepping around her to get to his trusty source of eyesight. 

“Don’t worry Lou, Pez and I have-” Eleanor was interrupted by a knock on the dorm door, “and speaking of the Devil.” She pranced over to the door and wretched it open, bringing Perrie into a hug. “Hi Pez!”

“Eleanor hey, I got the contacts!” Perrie grinned, waving a small white container and then she spotted Louis, “Lou!” 

Perrie jumped over and crushed him to her in a hearty bear hug. Louis giggled, returning the embrace, except with a little less enthusiasm, since Perrie had enough to show for both of them. Pulling back, she scanned him from head to toe.

“Honestly Lou, you couldn’t look more adorable if you tried, you’re breaking my heart!” 

Louis ducked away from her hold, grumbling at being called ‘adorable’. He was aware that his height was far from impressive and the rest was as small as he was short, but that adjective was a bit belittling. He was a _guy_. He gave a final attempt at reaching his specs when Perrie grabbed his wrist and pulled him away and into the bathroom for better lighting.

“I got your prescription contacts right here, so tonight you can show off that cute face of yours!” Perrie grinned, opening up the tiny container. 

Louis sighed tiredly and decided against arguing as Perrie motioned for him to look upwards so she could carefully slip the contacts over his irises. The process was thankfully short and Louis found himself blinking his eyes in the mirror, mouth open a little in awe as he could see perfectly without his trusty glasses on his nose. Perrie smirked knowingly, patting his round bum, to which Louis responded to with a little squeak, batting her hand away and leaving the bathroom.

“Alright, are we all set? Lou?” Eleanor smiled encouragingly while running her fingers through her hair. She looked beautiful as always, and Louis would probably have a massive crush on her, if he were to have any interest in the opposite sex. Fixing his fringe delicately for the last time, Louis sighed and nodded.

“I guess.”

——————————

“I thought you said this was going to be a small party…”

“I don’t recall saying that at all.”

Louis gulped, eyeing the frat house that was more or less bursting at the seams with people. The music was so loud, Louis swore he could feel it cause vibrations in the ground. The outside was a mess, littered with red cups, empty bottles, streamers, confetti and the occasional undergarment. It was an unsettling sight, one that Louis wasn’t used to as he’d only see something like this in movies. Long story short - Louis was terrified.

“T-this, I don’t think I can do this, not this…” Louis stuttered, stepping backwards, only to have two sets of hands pushing him forward.

“Yes you can and you will!” Perrie and Eleanor chorused, steering him in the direction of the half-opened front door. 

Overwhelmed is probably an understatement to describe how Louis felt the moment he was pulled into the rowdy house. There were people absolutely everywhere - filling the wide hallway, making out on the stairs, pilling in and out of the living room where the main party was and the kitchen where the drinks were. He trembled at the sight, swallowing nervously. 

“El, hey!” someone called out, grabbing Eleanor’s attention. She turned with a large smile, patting Louis on the back and dropping a kiss on his cheek.

“I’ll see you and Pez in a little while, okay? Have fun!” 

Louis stuttered, reaching out towards her with a small ‘ah’ but she slipped away and greeted a group of friends before she noticed him. Turning, he gripped onto Perrie’s hand, staring up into her eyes.

“Oh my God please don’t leave me alone here.” 

Perrie chuckled, ruffling Louis’ hair softly, “Don’t worry Lou, I won’t. Now come on, let’s get us a drink.” 

They shuffled through several drunk students and couples, entering the kitchen that was filled with even more people, hanging in corners and on counters. There was a never ending collection of red solo cups on the free counters with bottles of alcohol in every flavour and percentage imaginable. It was a _real_ college party. 

Perrie skipped the pre-made drinks, opting for safety, and picking out fresh cups to make simple vodka and coke. Louis stood beside her, watching the process on the tips of his toes to be able to see over her shoulder, his height being a constant barrier between any normal ordeals. 

“Alright Lou, this is coca cola mixed with vodka, that good with you?” Perrie smiled easily, offering the drink to him. Louis chewed his lip in thought.

“I um, I’ve never had alcohol so… I don’t really know?” He shrugged, looking up at his friend. Perrie giggled and pushed the drink into his small hand.

“I know Lou, just try it, this is very simple, you’ll love it!” 

Louis examined it for a little bit then took a sip. He immediately scrunched his face up at the bitterness of the vodka. 

“Eurgh, this isn’t nice at all Perrie…” He stuck his tongue out in disgust, giving the cup back to Perrie. She chuckled at him and downed the drink in one go.

“Oh babe, you and your innocence.” She hummed humorously as she poured another cup for him, this time containing only coke. He accepted the drink gratefully. 

Perrie took his hand and lead him outside to the backyard where the party seemed a bit more chilled out. 

A circle of people were settled on a blanket on the grass, paying attention to some sort of glass structure that had smoke coming out of it and a strange smell. There was a large lit up pool with several people in the water, some sitting on the edges with their feet dipped in and a girl was shrieking, trying to avoid two laughing guys who were trying to push her in. When they successfully did so, Louis glanced over to a small group of guys who were all perched on a fence, laughing, slapping hands and bumping fists. 

They were what Louis would typically describe as ‘frat boys’. Skinny jeans, tank tops, tanned skin and snapbacks. They were not the type of people Louis would ever associate with, mostly because he couldn’t imagine having anything in common with them but also because they were incredibly intimidating; loud, boisterous and tall - the absolute opposite of Louis. 

He backed up into Perrie a little bit who smiled at him comfortingly, wrapping her arm around his delicate shoulders, muttering a soft ‘you’re fine’. 

He watched as she looked over at the people he was previously examining. There were 5 of them and 1 girl, 4 of the guys and the girl sitting on the fence wall and one guy standing next to them, leaning against it. 

The guy standing up had bright orange hair and even brighter tattoos. On the fence wall, one was a bright blonde, dressed in clothes that screamed ‘frat boy’, just like the rest of them. The girl was in a pretty white top and jean shorts, perched intimately close to the tanned, brown-haired guy with massive arms. Beside him sat a beautiful guy, remarkably taller with dark curls flattened down by his ears by his snapback that he wore backwards. His arms were littered with very random but very intricate tattoos, tanned biceps flexing as he laughed, holding one fisted hand by his mouth and using the other to fist bump the intensely handsome darker skinned guy next to him. 

Perrie inspected Louis’ face that was morphed into an expression of slight awe as he took in the appearance of the curly haired lad. She nudged her elbow into Louis gently.

“See _something_ you like there Lou?” She grinned.

“Huh, w-what?” Louis stammered, snapped out of his involuntary admiration. He was a bit too beautiful to just be looked over. Louis didn’t really think he could be blamed.

Perrie smirked, nodding over at the group, “I saw you checking out our dear friend Harry over there.” 

Harry. Gosh even his name was beautiful. But…

“No way Perrie. You know me.” Louis denied, blushing lightly.

“Mhm, I do. And I also know Harry. So let’s go over, I’ll introduce you, what do you say?” Grinning, Perrie began pulling on his arm but was immediately stopped by Louis.

“Are you crazy?!” He whisper-shouted, “Not a chance Pez! I don’t want to meet someone like him!” He stressed, dragging her farther away from the group but still in their view if they were to look over.

“What, why? What’s wrong with ‘someone like him’?” 

“Y-you know… look at him. He’s a typical alpha male - tall, popular, intimidating… Me, I’m practically invisible. We’re on two completely different spectrums of humanity. Two different Worlds Pez. We just don’t associate.” Louis attempted to explain.

“You’re not invisible-”

“Need I remind you of the time someone _sat_ on me because they didn’t see-”

“Alright alright, I get your point,” Perrie sighed, “but Harry is very nice, you know? And I just think it’d be good for you, to meet some new people, come out of your shell a bit more.”

Louis shook his head adamantly, “Someone like him wouldn’t associate with a person like me.”

Perrie pursed her lips silently to the side, releasing the problem was not so much Louis’ reputation as much as it was his self-consciousness. She opened her mouth to protest but was cut off by a voice.

“Perrie!”

Louis and Perrie looked over to the source of the voice, and to Louis’ absolute mortification, it came from the stunning dark skinned guy who sat right next to their previous topic. Who now also had his eyes trained on Perrie and Louis both.

“Perrie do you know him?” Louis whisper-shouted to her without taking his eyes off of the guys. 

“Yes, that’s Zayn, and Zayn has called me over so now we have no choice but to go over. Funny that?” Perrie smirked, grabbing his hand and leading him towards the group. Louis felt faint.

“Hey guys!” Perrie grinned at everyone, and Louis was quick to hide behind her.

“How you doin’ Pez? Haven’t seen you in a while.” Zayn flashed Perrie a flirty grin.

A deep chuckle increased Louis’ heart rate and he swallowed heavily as he realised it came from Harry.

“Smooth Zayn. You saw her yesterday.” Harry smirked, digging his elbow lightly into Zayn’s side who growled playfully and shoved Harry back, albeit with a slight blush on his (stunningly-carved) cheeks. 

“Shut up you twat!”

Harry laughed again and turned to Perrie, “Hey Perrie, good to see you again,” angling his head a bit to the side, he tried to catch a better glimpse of Louis, who froze, “Who’s the little one behind you?”

Perrie smiled widely. Shuffling a bit to the side, she wrapped an arm around his shoulders, patting him soothingly. 

“This is Louis, he’s mine and El’s best friend! A fellow brit, just like us lot!” 

Louis trembled, apparently visibly, but Harry did not comment on it and instead shot him a gentle smile. “Hi there Louis.”

The rest of the small group began giving their names, introducing themselves as Niall, Liam, Sophia and Ed. Blushing furiously at the attention on him, Louis attempted to muster up a reply.

“H-hi…” he waved timidly, clearing his throat to hopefully eliminate all chances of his voice cracking. 

Knowing Louis felt discomfort when too many eyes on him, Perrie diverted everyone’s attention back to her.

Louis fidgeted in his spot as he attempted to calm his racing heart. He was really, really bad with people. Something as simple as introducing himself to strangers made his fingers shake and his mind to feel fuzzy. He was pathetic, he knew it. He felt as though walls were closing in on him, despite him being outside.

Louis wriggled out of Perrie’s arms and stood on the tips of his toes to reach her ear and whisper his excuse to leave the group for the time being.

She cast him a worried look, “You sure Lou? Hold on, I’ll come with.”

Before she could, Louis shook his head quickly. “No no it’s alright, you need, you need to spend time with your f-friends, I won’t be long, I just, just need a little breather away from people,” Perrie’s frown deepened, “really truly I’m okay, I’ll come find you in a bit I promise.” 

“Everything alright?”

Louis’ head snapped in the direction the voice came from - it was Harry. He had an eyebrow raised at the pair, hands fixing his snapback slightly.

“Oh yeah, no we’re fine! Lou’s just going to get a drink, right?” Perrie reassured everyone, and Louis nodded mutely, still staring at Harry and shrinking back slightly as Harry stared back, eyes inquisitive as if he tried to figure Louis out. It was unnerving. 

Louis stuttered out a quiet ‘excuse me’ to the group and made a dash for the side of the house, out of sight of everyone there. His cheeks burned in embarrassment as he realised he just made an absolute idiot out of himself. He groaned and covered his heated face, sinking down against the wall. 

_Oh my God, I can’t even say my own name. I just ran away from them like a frightened animal. Who does that?!_

Louis didn’t know how long he stayed there, crouching until his legs burned, his head buried in between his knees, entire body trembling. 

“Lou?”

His head snapped up and he started at Eleanor.

“Perrie texted me to find you, are you okay love?” Eleanor asked, crouching down beside him, careful of her short dress.

Louis nodded silently, “I am, I’m sorry El, I didn’t mean to, I just froze up, I knew it would be like this, you and Perrie would just have to, t-to babysit me like always, ‘cause that’s just what I am, a damn b-baby…” He muttered, burying his face in his knees again.

“Oh Lou, no,” Eleanor cooed, wrapping her slim arm around Louis, “we love you Lou, we look after you because we care about you, we’re not babysitting. We want you to be comfortable and to enjoy your life a little. I think this can be really good for you, meeting new people and enjoying some social interaction. If you really don’t want to be here, we’ll go home, alright? I promise, just say the word and we’ll go. I don’t want you feeling bad babe.”

Louis considered her words but the guilt was eating at him from the inside out. Slowly, he declined her kind offer.

“It’s alright, let’s stay… I, I want to stay.” 

Eleanor looked skeptical. Mustering up the most reassuring smile he could, Louis stood up and offering his small hand to help her stand also. 

“You sure love?”

She received a nod as a reply and grinned happily. Linking her arm with his, she pulled him from the secluded part of the house and towards the party.

“Well then, let’s go find Perrie and have a good night, alright?”


	2. 2

Perrie had disappeared, subsequently with everyone. The entire group that Louis ran away from seemed to have scattered. Louis felt his insides mellow out with relief. But it didn’t last long as Eleanor dragged him indoors, where the music was more or less deafening. 

“How on Earth does anyone communicate at these parties?” Louis muttered to himself, unknowingly catching Eleanor’s attention who leaned in to his ear.

“Did you say something?” 

Louis blushed, shaking his head quickly in a ‘nothing, nothing’ motion. They explored each room in search of their friend, and Louis felt more and more claustrophobic as time went on. The house wasn’t small by any means - there were just so many people. Louis wasn’t good with people.

“Ah I see Sophia, perhaps she’s seen Pez!” Eleanor shouted over the loudness, leading Louis towards the girl that was with the guy she sat next to outside, who had introduced himself as Liam.

“Soph!”

“El!”

Both girls shared a friendly hug before Sophia returned to her place in beside Liam who had his arm around her, and he greeted them right after. Sophia flashed a grin at Louis.

“Hi Lou, you alright?” She radiated charisma and warmth, Louis couldn’t help but give her a shy smile in return along with a nod.

“You two know eachother?” Eleanor asked, confused.

“Ah Perrie introduced us a little while ago when we were outside.”

“Speaking of, have you seen Perrie?”

Sophia shook her head, “Last time I saw her she was with Zayn, I think they went to dance?”

Ah figures. The large living room was the only room Louis and Eleanor didn’t check, due it to being so loud and crowded, Eleanor took pity and didn’t bring him in there, knowing it would be far too overwhelming for him.

“With Zayn ey?” Eleanor wiggled her eyebrows, and Sophia smirked.

“I have a strong inkling that Perrie is going to be leaving this party with a boyfriend.”

Both of the girls snickered while Louis just watched the interaction with slight awe and jealousy. It was so easy, they just bantered back and forth like they’ve been friends for years, much like Louis and Eleanor are. But their relationship consisted more of Eleanor worrying about Louis 24/7 and caring for him like a mother would a child. Louis hadn’t realised until now just how much of a burden he must be for both her and Perrie.

“You okay Louis?” 

Louis’ head snapped up and he locked eyes with Liam, and he immediately felt guilty for forgetting Liam was even standing there. Swallowing, Louis nodded, despite slightly shaking from nerves due to having to interact with another person.

“I’m um, yeah I’m okay.” His reply was rather quiet, but Liam seemed to have picked it up and gave him a kind smile in return, which slightly baffled Louis. 

He always felt that people from frats, who wore such loud and confident clothes, being equally as loud and confident in personality, were a bit different to people like Louis. He couldn’t imagine Liam and himself having anything much in common, and neither did he expect the kindness that Liam, Sophia, and the rest of the group outside had shown him, even after Louis had barely said 2 words and ran away from them. Yet Liam seemed completely at ease, and looked like he was more than willing to start a conversation, while Eleanor and Sophia chattered about ‘Zerrie’ or something of the sort. He suddenly felt awful for silently judging them so fast. 

“You enjoying the party?” Liam smiled, and Louis felt guilty so he attempted to lie.

“Oh y-yeah it’s-it’s great! Love it!” Louis stuttered, flashing thumbs up, feelings his cheeks fill with colour at a remarkable speed. 

_If some sort of black hole could open up beneath my feet, and swallow me up whole, that would be so greatly appreciated_.

Liam examined Louis for a second before he smiled sympathetically. “Not really your scene, is it?”

Louis’ shoulders dropped and he shook his head lightly. “Is it that obvious?” He bit his lip.

“It’s alright mate,” Liam patted his shoulder, “not everybody is into this. I myself prefer peace and quiet actually - I need it, since psychology can be so demanding. But sometimes it’s nice to wind down, enjoy some drinks and good company.” 

Louis blinked in surprise. “Psychology?”

Liam nodded with a smile. “Yeah, that’s the course I’m on.”

“Me too!” Louis felt himself relax a little when he realised he and Liam could actually find a lot to talk about, “I’ve never seen you though?”

“I’m a second year mate.” Liam informed him, and ah, that made more sense, “the whole lot that you met outside, all of us are second years.”

“Alright well we’re gonna go get some drinks, it was good seeing you Soph, and Liam.” Louis heard Eleanor say and then she hooked his arm with hers again. He waved shyly at Sophia and Liam as they exchanged goodbyes.

“So are we going to find Perrie?” Louis asked, looking up at Eleanor, who towered over him in her heels.

“No way,” Eleanor smirked, “Perrie’s getting it in Lou.” 

Louis blushed furiously as he realised what that meant. 

They were just about to pass the living room before Eleanor stopped, squealing and trying to point at someone inconspicuously.

“Lou look oh my God, it’s Dan, Dan is here,” she babbled excitedly and then her eyes went wide, “oh my God Louis he’s calling me over, what do I do?”

Louis remembers Eleanor telling him about Dan - he was on her course, with apparently the ‘dreamiest eyes’ she has ever seen. It was safe to say she harboured a rather large crush on him. Realisation settled in that Louis couldn’t possibly walk over with Eleanor to her _romantic interest_ with Louis hanging on her arm. And Louis knew that if he expressed any discomfort (even though he felt it, he really felt it) at her leaving him by himself, she would totally dismiss any and every chance to go to talk to him, and spend the rest of her night cowering over Louis like the caring person she was. And Louis couldn’t let her do that.

“You should, um, you should go over to him.” He mumbled, twiddling his fingers a bit.

Eleanor snapped her head towards him with a frown.

“No way I’m not leaving you by yourself in this madness! Come on.” She cast an apologetic glance towards Dan and was about to walk away until Louis stopped her.

“Ellie, it’s okay, really.” Louis smiled with as much reassurance as he could, releasing himself from her hold, “you like him so much El, and he’s here, and wants to spend time with you, you’d be crazy to turn him down.” 

At the blush forming on Eleanor’s cheeks, Louis knew he was very close to being left to fend for himself, but he ignored that thought and put her feelings before his own - it wasn’t fair on her.

“I’ll be alright, truly. I’ll come find you, okay? So go talk to him,” Louis pushed and Eleanor swayed in her spot, opening her mouth and he could see ‘but’ forming on the tip of her tongue, “no buts - you know you want to.”

Two forehead kisses and several warnings later, Louis felt his entire being fill with dread as he was left alone. In the middle of the biggest (only) party he has ever been to. 

Feeling his breathing pick up, Louis walked through a few rooms, cringing every time a drunk teen would stumble into him, or attempt to get his attention. He could feel his erratic heartbeat and his hands shook violently at that point. Finally, he came across a staircase, which led up to the second floor that he figured would be a lot less crowded. 

He passed several couples who were engaged in very heated make-out sessions, and by the stairs, he recognised one couple - or atleast the guy - who he had met outside. He was the loud blonde one that Louis remembered had introduced himself as Niall. Niall didn’t notice him, seemingly too busy with the pretty brunette attached to his lips.

Quickly skipping up the steps, two at a time, Louis managed to find a bathroom but jumped back in surprise when he noticed it was occupied. A girl was on her knees by the porcelain bowl, breathing heavily in between retching, or atleast Louis assumed so, judging by the unpleasant smell in the tiled room. She didn’t even react to him.

“U-um,” stepping closer, Louis didn’t want to leave behind someone who looked rather miserable, “a-are you, are you alright?” 

The girl glanced up with bloodshot eyes and smudged makeup. She nodded dismissively before leaning down to throw up again. 

“Um, um, um, p-please wait here, I’ll go get some, um, some water for you, hold on please.” Louis stuttered, turning around quickly and rushing towards the staircase to attempt to locate the kitchen.

It didn’t take long to find. What did take a while was attempting to locate a cup that wasn’t already filled with some sort of alcoholic substance. Louis figured his best bet was getting a glass from one of the cupboards. Opening up the first cupboard he saw, he noticed plates on the first shelf, bowls on the second, and glasses and cups on the third. In other words, they were more or less out of his reach. 

Louis pouted, much like he always did when life challenged him with height, and considered giving up, but his conscience wouldn’t let him leave behind someone who didn’t seem well at all. 

He ignored every other presence in the kitchen and quickly cleared the counter in front of him, before boosting himself up and crawling with clumsy awkwardness onto his knees so he could reach up for the closest glass. Holding on to one shelf and arching up, his small hand grasped a glass and he smiled in triumph.

The smile fell and a frightened squeak left his lips when he felt strong arms encircle his waist from behind him.

“Whoa there little one,” a deep, husky, _recognisable_ voice chuckled, “that’s not very safe, what are you doing?” 

The glass shook in his hand and he glanced over his shoulder at Harry, meeting his bright green eyes and cheeky smirk. His eyes were slightly glazed over and Louis knew he was under the influence of something but he still seemed coherent. Gulping, he stuttered out his excuse.

“I-I need water, and um, t-there were no free plastic cups, and I c-couldn’t reach these, I’m sorry…” He trailed off, embarrassed. Harry chuckled again lightly.

“No need for apologies, I’m just glad I caught you before you toppled off of here.” He grinned, then tightened his arms around Louis, who squeaked again, as Harry lifted him up and off the counter onto the floor, “Louis, right?”

Louis fumbled with the glass in his hand, his heart in overdrive. He looked up at Harry and nodded. 

“I’m Harry, incase you forgot.” He hadn’t, but nodded again. “Weren’t you here with Eleanor and Perrie? I didn’t think they’d leave you by yourself.”

Furrowing his eyebrows, Louis frowned slightly and turned to the sink that was a couple of feet away, and Harry followed behind him.

“I-I’m not a child, I’m perfectly capable of being without them.” He mumbled quietly while filling up the glass, and blushed when Harry leaned in a bit to hear him better.

“Oh no I’m not saying that you aren’t, it’s just that they seem so protective of you. Leaving you here alone is like offering a kitten to a pack of wolves.” Harry teased.

Blinking several times, Louis looked up at Harry and pouted. “You’re not very nice.”

Harry threw his head back in a loud laugh which startled Louis and caused him to jump. 

“You are without a doubt the cutest person I have ever met.”

Louis flushed and felt his stomach fill up with butterflies. Teetering on the spot, he looked down while mumbling ‘um, um, um’ quietly, not knowing what to reply. 

Harry smiled and placed a large hand on Louis’ shoulder. “Relax little one, I’m just messing around with you.” 

The blush never left his face. 

“Breathe, drink your water.” Harry encouraged. 

Louis lifted the glass to his mouth and was about to take a sip before he remembered the whole reason he came down here and who the water was for. With a small ‘oh!’, he quickly rushed around Harry, out of the kitchen, and up the stairs to the bathroom, where the unknown girl still was. He hadn’t turned his head to see Harry looking at him with a surprised and incredibly curious expression. 

Louis spent the next 20 minutes with the sick girl (she introduced herself as Carly), guiding her into a comfortable position by the wall and close to the toilet incase she threw up again and helping her drink some water. He asked her for her phone and sent a text to the first group chat that he saw open that was named ‘besties’, which he figured was a safe bet that they were her friends who were also present at the party. 

Eventually, two girls turned up and collected Carly, who thanked Louis atleast a dozen times for his help. He stuttered out a soft ‘you’re welcome’ and then they were gone. 

The music still pulsed loudly downstairs and Louis knew he couldn’t possibly handle more noise, none the less more human interaction in one night. Rising to his feet, his little legs shaking from being on the floor for so long, he left the bathroom and tried finding a place to hide for the rest of the party before Eleanor and Perrie came to find him.

He pressed his ear against each door he came across, stumbling away quickly with a red face when he heard loud moans behind the mahogany. He finally found a door, at the end of the corridor, that led to an unoccupied room. He didn’t feel comfortable entering a stranger’s room, but he figured he wouldn’t be in there long, and if the owner of the room didn’t want anyone entering, they would have locked it. 

Once the door closed behind him, he released a heavy sigh as he was engulfed in silence. Well, somewhat. The room was quite far from the staircase and the music was but a soft thump from downstairs through the thick wooden door. Surveying the room, he noticed a lot of books on economics and literature, as well as posters of Ryan Adams, The Rolling Stones, Nirvana and others. The floor had a few pairs of Nike trainers and suede boots, but it wasn’t as messy as you’d expect a college boy’s room to be. There was a cork board with lots of quotes, concert tickets and dozens of polaroid pictures, but it felt like too much of an invasion of privacy to look at those, so Louis looked away.

He quickly sat down on the bed in the room, enjoying the softness of it, and closed his eyes, counting to a 100 in his head to calm his breathing.

He didn’t get past 50 before the door opened and he jumped in fright at the sudden intrusion. In walked Harry, and he startled slightly at Louis’ presence which he clearly didn’t expect. 

“Louis, hi,” Harry blinked, “what are you doing in my room?”

Louis jumped off the bed immediately. 

“I-is this your room, I’m, I’m so-so sorry, I’ll go, I-I’m sorry,” he stuttered, but Harry was in front of him before he could walk, grasping Louis’ arms gently in his giant hands.

“Hey, hey, it’s alright love, I don’t mind,” he cooed, “I was just wondering how come you were in here instead of at the party, it’s no problem. You ran off so fast back there in the kitchen.” 

Louis gulped and nodded, flushing at the term of endearment. Still, he looked down and apologised again, which Harry brushed off with a soft smile. Louis felt the butterflies steadily return. Suddenly, he wished he was good enough for someone like Harry. He couldn’t really help it. Harry was just so handsome, and so _kind_.

Bending his knees slightly so that he could catch Louis’ eyes, his face was still upturned in a fond smile. “You alright now love? Give me a smile? I wanna see those pretty eyes.” 

Louis’ insides melted as Harry spoke to him so gently, causing his tummy to somersault. He didn’t need to put much effort into making his lips form a shy little smile, because Harry’s sweetness made him want to never stop smiling. Especially when Harry poked his cheek, exclaiming ‘there it is’. Then Harry stood to his full height (back to Louis having to crane his neck slightly) and let his hands drop from Louis’ arms. 

“Hey give me your number,” Harry grinned and Louis’ jaw dropped. 

“U-um, m-my number? Why?” What could Harry possibly want with the number of a socially awkward nerd who was about as visible as a dust particle?

“So that I can talk to you again love,” Harry grinned, taking his phone out of his pocket and handing it to Louis, “you’re rather adorable if I do say so myself.”

Louis felt his heart speed up to the fastest it’s probably ever been. He fish-mouthed several times before grasping onto Harry’s phone, attempting to enter in his number with trembling fingers. His entire body felt flushed. He couldn’t believe it. Harry actually wanted to talk to him again. To Louis Tomlinson, of all people. 

Handing the phone back, Louis smiled shyly, wringing his fingers together. Harry returned his smile, before suddenly a female appeared by the still opened door.

“Harryyyy, come on have you got it?” She whined to him. Louis recognised her as the brunette that was making-out with Niall earlier. 

Harry jumped. “Oh shit, yeah!” 

Louis watched as Harry walked around him and went up to the bedside table to rummage through it for something. He felt his heart drop to the bottom of his stomach and his throat went dry as Harry pulled a condom out of the drawer. Harry hadn’t even managed to turn around by the time Louis had stuttered out a quiet ‘excuse me’ and was already rushing out of the room and down the steps. He heard his name being called behind him but ignored it.

 _Stupid. So stupid. Of course he’s not actually interested in me. He’s probably not even interested in guys, who was I kidding_. 

Louis was so angry with himself when he felt tears sting his eyes. Attempting to keep them in, he closed his eyes tightly, which wasn’t very smart as he collided into a slim body in a matter of seconds.

“Lou!” 

His eyes snapped open and he nearly sobbed in relief when he saw Eleanor and Perrie. They looked over his current state before they both hugged him.

“Oh Lou what’s wrong, are you crying?” Perrie cooed.

Louis shook his head quickly, and looked up at his best friends. “Can we go now? Please?”

“You wanna go back now Lou?” Eleanor asked, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. He replied with a nod. 

“Okay, of course we can go, we’re leaving right now Lou, okay?” Perrie smiled at him, taking his hand. 

The trio left the loud party and turned to walk towards their dorms. Louis sniffled on the trip but held the tears back, refusing to let himself cry. It wasn’t his business anyway. He was silly to think Harry was actually flirting with him. He didn’t know Harry at all - Harry was free to sleep with whoever he wanted. It had nothing to do with Louis. It’s stupid, a stupid thing to get upset over.

The lump in his throat and the pinch in his chest reminded him why he chose to know as less people as possible. Less people meant less chances of getting hurt. After all, it didn’t take much for Louis - he tended to develop feelings faster than an average teenager (a result of the credible amount of romance books he has read in his life.)

Eleanor and Perrie kept exchanging worried looks over his head before they finally cracked.

“What happened babe?”

Louis shook his head lightly. “It’s nothing really, it’s something very silly, I promise I’m fine.”

Eleanor frowned. “I find that really hard to believe. Please talk to us Lou.”

But Louis remained silent. He didn’t want to talk about it, and embarrass himself further and tell them about how he was crying over a boy, a _straight_ boy, that he hadn’t even spent longer than an hour with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little angsty at the end there. Microscopic amount really. This is probably as angsty as this will be, and doubt there will be much more of it in the next chapter and after it. Probably. Maybe... I'm sorry I genuinely have no plot, I just write whatever pops into my head. I can't even spoil this story for any of you because I'm just as clueless as to what happens next as any readers of this story are. We're all clueless here. 
> 
> Massive thank you for all the kudos and the comments, y'all are hella sweet.
> 
> Find me on tumblr at louist91-harrys94(.tumblr.com of course).


	3. 3

Sunday morning, Louis felt great - like he tends to feel most mornings because he’s a very rare species called a ‘morning person.’

It took a total of 10 seconds for him to wake up, smile at the light pouring in through his window, until the memories of last night came rushing back and he felt his body deflate. Wringing his hands into his blanket, he took several deep breaths and willed himself to relax. 

_Well this is a new low, even for me._

“Jesus I’m pathetic.” Louis chuckled to himself sadly. Throwing his blankets away from himself, he set his small feet onto the carpet floor. The silence allowed for too many thoughts to fill his head. He won’t be forgetting his first boy and girl party for a long time.

Standing up, he toddled over to his laptop that rested on his desk, turning it on and opening up iTunes. Any sort of background noise at that point would hopefully relieve his overflowing mind. Hitting shuffle, he allowed the soothing acoustics of Seafret to begin erasing the silence in his small dorm room.

After washing up and messing with his hair a little bit, he dressed himself in a striped shirt, covering it with a somewhat oversized navy hoodie that he left unzipped. Pulling a pair of dark skinny jeans over his legs, he rolled up the bottoms to show his ankles. His usual. 

Louis glanced over at his phone but decided to leave it behind as he left his room with no shoes on, his feet pattering softly as he made his way to the common room for some breakfast. He stopped right in front of the door and breathed in, then released shakily, as he always did, due to his uncomfortable fear of human interaction. He silently prayed no one was in there. Unless it was Eleanor or Perrie, because they were the only people, other than his family, who didn’t make him nervous all the time.

Pushing the door open, he was relieved to find the room occupied by both of his friends. Perrie lived in the hall above Louis and Eleanor, but she was usually down at theirs. 

Both girls turned to him when the door opened and smiled brightly, offering greetings.

“Morning Lou! Sleep well?” Eleanor grinned, giving him a kiss on the head as he sat down next to her. 

“I did thanks, good morning to you both.” Louis returned the smiles, huffing a bit when Perrie reached over and ruffled his hair. 

Louis stood back up and began preparing himself a cup of tea. It was silent for a few moments before it was broken.

“So, um, Lou…” Perrie began and Louis hummed in response, “we were just wondering if we could talk about last night…”

Louis tensed momentarily, then nodded, adding a teaspoon of sugar to his tea. When he was done, he turned around and joining the girls at the table again.

“What happened babe? Why were you so upset when we left?” 

Cupping his hands around his cat mug, Louis avoided eye contact and tried to think of what to say. He really didn’t want to lie, he hated lying. Especially to Perrie and Eleanor - he told them everything.

“Um-”

“And no lies, please Lou?”

Louis sighed and rubbed under his eyes for a bit, then fixing his glasses.

“It’s honestly very silly, just me being my dramatic self, you know…” He chuckled humourlessly.

Perrie and Eleanor exchanged vary looks and it didn’t take a genius to know they weren’t buying it. 

Right. Okay.

“Umm, you know Harry?”

Louis watched his best friends nod in reply.

“I um, I bumped into him last night when I was looking for a glass to get some water and we, uh, we talked a little bit and then I spent a little while in the bathroom helping a sick girl.” 

Cooing at Louis’ caring nature, both of the girls abandoned their seats and pushed the chairs to be on both sides of Louis so that they could wrap the small boy up in their arms, petting his hair and smiling when he blushed and tried pushing their hands away.

“And then, I um, I went into his room,” Perrie and Eleanor’s eyes went wide and Louis spluttered, waving his hands quickly, “n-no, no no not like that, I-I mean, I was j-just looking for a quiet place and his room was the only one that was… unoccupied. And then, um, he came in and we talked a bit and then I didn’t realise he, uh, he wasn’t a-alone… he came to look for a condom, he was with a girl…” he bit his lip, shrugging lightly. The girls exchanged looks over his head.

Eleanor mulled over her thoughts, “Right.. so you were with Harry, and got upset because he was hooking up with a girl… wait, does that-”

“Louis, oh my God-”

“Do you like Harry?!”

Eleanor squealed while Perrie examined him with a gleam in her eyes, because she had a feeling from the moment she saw Louis look at Harry.

Louis looked down, fiddling with his fingers, his face red. “I um, I suppose I did a bit, he’s, he’s sweet I guess? He was just so…” Louis sighed somewhat dreamily, “he was so sweet to me when we were in his room and I just couldn’t help it, my stomach felt like it was going to burst.”

“Darliiing,” Perrie cooed, hugging Louis to her chest, “I knew it, I knew from when you first saw him that something was going to happen, you’re the cutest, Harry would be so lucky to have you.”

Eleanor agreed, joining in the hug and kissing his temple.

“D-did…” Louis blinked in surprise, “did you guys hear anything of what I just told you?” 

“Harry’s a teenage boy babe-”

“And you know teenage boys, what time they don’t spend wanking, they spend being horny so-”

“I know it wasn’t pleasant to see him with someone else, but I don’t even doubt it was probably just a one night thing-” 

“And anyway Harry’s a real sweetheart, he hardly ever does anything casual, so actually I’m surprised to hear about this but you know-” 

Louis kept looking from Eleanor to Perrie as they continuously finished each other’s sentences. 

“Oh how sweet, El aren’t they going to make the absolute cutest couple ever?”

“Oh my God yes, I cannot wait for this!”

“Guys!” Louis whined, “did you miss the most important part?” 

He was met with blank looks.

“He was with a girl, as in you know, meaning his preferences aren’t exactly… like mine. More straight-like.” Louis elaborated awkwardly as if it was obvious.

Perrie bit her lip, glancing at Eleanor, “Um, babe I really really doubt Harry is straight.” 

Eleanor shook her head, “He is most definitely not straight. I promise you.” She assured, seeing his doubtful look.

Louis released a sigh, taking a sip of his tea. “What does it matter anyway? As if someone like _him_ would go for someone like _me_?”

“What do you mean?” Eleanor quizzed, while Perrie frowned sadly as she remembered the things Louis told her yesterday.

“Louis, I really wish you could see just how beautiful you are.” Perrie sighed, resting her head on top of his.

“Is that what this is about?” Eleanor asked, looking at Louis intently, “you don’t think you’re good enough for him?”

“I know I’m not good enough for him El. Look at me - a couple inches under and I could probably be legally named a dwarf, I’m plain, I’m boring, I wear glasses, not to mention I’m still a kid - do you want me to name every reason, because we’ll be here all morning?” Louis muttered, avoiding their eyes.

Perrie lifted her head and Eleanor made Louis put his cup on the table so that she could turn him on the chair and rest her hands on his shoulders.

“Louis,” she spoke, sounding so serious that Louis blinked in surprise, “listen to me. You are one of the most amazing people I know. You are more than good enough - especially for Harry, trust me when I say he’d be perfect for you. So you’re a bit short, there’s nothing wrong with being petite alright? Even if you are a guy!” She interjected as she saw Louis open his mouth to protest.

Perrie then turned him around to her, “You are not plain - you are amazing. You’re funny, you’re cute, you’re so smart Louis, so smart! You’re so great, if only you’d believe it. Your idea of fun may not be the most common, but that doesn’t make you boring babe, it’s all a matter of preference, what one likes to do. Just because you don’t enjoy dancing and drinking to the point of memory loss every night, it does not mean you are boring.”

Eleanor pulled him towards her again, Louis felt a bit dizzy and overwhelmed tears blurred his vision a bit at the kindness his friends were providing him with.

“So you wear glasses, it’s not your fault you don’t have perfect vision, and you can wear contacts whenever you want, that’s perfectly alright Lou. And come on, you’re probably the most mature person I know even if you are the youngest. Besides, Harry is 19, and your birthday is before his, so he’s not even a full two years older. Don’t forget you’re younger because you’re here earlier than most of us babe, because you’re so smart.” 

Louis knew the conversation wasn’t even about Harry anymore. His two best friends often had talks like this with him, because he very often struggled to accept himself for who he is. Feeling inadequate and inferior was something he experienced really often, and he hated it, but that’s just how his mind was wired. And he didn’t really accept compliments, because he didn’t believe them, but he was so grateful to have these two girls in his life, because they always put him first and it warmed his heart so much.

Manoeuvring himself so that he could hug both girls at the same time, he allowed for a few tears to slip as he mumbled ‘thank you’s to them quietly.

“You guys are the best people I’ve ever met.”

———————————————

“So, won’t you tell us what you two talked about when you were alone?”

The girls and Louis moved themselves over to Louis’ room, all cuddled together on his bed. 

“Um, honestly not a lot was said. He just asked why I was in his room, made me smile and asked for my number.”

“What?!” Perrie and Eleanor shot up, staring down at him in excitement, “your number, he has it?!”

Louis nodded bashfully. As if on cue, his phone that was laying on the bedside table lit up with a text notification. They all freeze before the girls launch themselves for the phone but they don’t get to see the text as Louis snatches it out of Eleanor’s grasp.

“P-please, let me… I wanna just…” He trailed off, clutching onto the device with wide eyes. He didn’t even know if it was Harry yet, but if it was, he wanted the moment to himself. Which thankfully Perrie and Eleanor understood, giving him comforting and encouraging smiles. They departed from his room after dropping kisses on his forehead.

Breathing deeply, Louis unlocked his phone and a shiver ran through his body as he noticed the text was from an unknown number. Internally, he went through stages of giving himself a pep talk, scolding himself for being such a scaredy cat, and then more words of encouragement. With a nervous swallow, he swiped across the screen and opened up the text.

_‘You have a habit of running away from me, little one. Harry .x’_

Louis shivered again, smiling giddily, knowing he can confidently save the number as ‘Harry’ into his minuscule list of contacts. Then he spent the next 15 minutes trying to think up a reply that wouldn’t come across completely lame.

_‘I’m sorry ! I promise it was never intentional. The first time I was helping someone and the second time I just didn’t want to interrupt, I’m sorry. Louis x’_

Not knowing what else to say, he looked away and clicked send before he could talk himself out of it. Harry’s reply came sooner than Louis was prepared for.

_‘I’ll take your word for it babe. I would’ve loved to spend more time with you. Which I’m hoping I can do next time .x’_

All previous sadness forgotten, Louis rolled around on his bed with a flushed face and a beaming grin. His heart was beating so fast it was borderline painful, his stomach flipping and filling up with butterflies. He literally had never felt anything like this before in his life. He had a crush.

———————————————

Monday meant early morning lectures, with rushed showers and strong coffee, most students recovering from the weekend. 

Louis panted as he speed walked to his lecture theatre, having overslept for the first time in a very long time. Oversleeping wasn’t a thing for Louis, because his sleeping pattern was solid and his body knew when he had to be up. That is, as long as Louis allows himself the correct amount of sleep in order for the pattern to keep functioning efficiently. He woke up 15 minutes before his 9.30am lecture started.

Unlike his usual 10.30pm bedtime, he passed out at 2am, having spent the entire night texting Harry. It was his first time staying up till such a late hour to talk to a boy. Louis blushed as he realised that in the short time he’s known Harry, he’s already experienced a few first’s. 

He had never met anyone as straight forward and flirty as Harry. Just about every single text he sent had Louis’ heart racing and his face flushing. He was crushing on the older boy, crushing very hard. 

Two hours and five pages of neatly colour coded notes later, Louis bustled out with the rest of the students. The minuscule crowd was still big for Louis and he attempted to escape without his usual habit of getting knocked out of the way, but while attempting to do so, he bumped into an unsuspecting figure waiting by the side of the doors. 

“O-oh dear, sorry, so sorry!” Louis stuttered, clutching onto his books tighter as the snapback-wearing guy turned around and Louis immediately recognised him as Liam. 

“Louis, hey!” Liam grinned, showing off his straight pearly white teeth. Louis felt a bit envious, running his tongue over his small, slightly crooked bottom row of teeth. 

“H-hi Liam, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to, are you okay?” Louis asked, offering him a shy grin. Liam shook his head and clapped him on the shoulder lightly. 

“No harm done at all. You good? Just got done with a lecture I assume?” He asked to which Louis replied with a small nod. 

“Yeah, I’m heading back to my room now, don’t have anything for another couple of hours. What are you doing here?” Louis inquired, before blushing hotly, “n-not that it’s any of my business, you can be here for whatever you want, I didn’t mean-” he waved his hands in front of him in defence, forgetting that he was holding his psychology notes and textbooks. Embarrassment flooded his entire small being when they crashed to the floor loudly at his and Liam’s feet.

They stood in silence for a few moments before Liam slowly crouched down and started collecting Louis’ stuff. Louis dropped to his knees immediately after, stuttering apologies, his face burning hot. 

_Why am I such a mess?_

Liam just chuckled.

“Hey it’s alright buddy no worries, it happens right? I’ve done it before, everyone’s done it before, it’s alright.” He smiled at him, handing his notes over. 

Louis stared at him for a bit before nodding gratefully. “T-thank you Liam.” 

They both rose to their feet again. 

“I just need to ask Professor Lloyd a question about our latest assignment, since I don’t have him till Wednesday so I figured I’d catch him today since I remember this lecture from my first year schedule. And then afterwards I’m off to lunch with-”

“Liam!” 

Both Liam and Louis turned to look behind him, only to see Harry approaching, with Niall and the brunette girl under his arm. 

The girl. 

Louis just couldn’t really understand why she was wrapped around Niall instead of Harry. And how Harry was alright with it. Not to mention, Niall and the girl were making out before she went to Harry. Is she with Harry or Niall? Or, did they have some sort of three-way going on? An open relationship maybe? Is that why Harry flirted with him, because no one minds? But how-

“Hey babe.” 

Louis flinched, so stuck inside his own head to notice the three friends have already approached them and Harry was greeting Louis with his usual flirty smirk. Louis blushed hotly, slightly raising his books to cover his mouth shyly, replying with a meek ‘hi’, to which Harry’s smirk widened. 

“Hi, Louis right?” Niall smiled, “we didn’t really get much of a chance to talk at the party, I can’t even lie I had a few too many I barely remember a thing. I don’t think you’ve met Barbara have you?” He gestured towards the pretty brunette. 

She held out a slim hand to Louis. “Hi Louis, nice to meet you. I’m Barbara, the girlfriend.” She grinned, gesturing towards Niall and - what.

“G-girlfriend…?” Louis stuttered, reaching out to shake her hand, only to once again drop all of his books. “Oh my God.” he whispered, falling down to the floor again to quickly pick everything up. Tears pricked his eyes as he heard everyone around him chuckle. 

Before Liam and the others could help him, Harry turned to them.

“I gotta speak to Louis for a bit, you guys go ahead alright? I’ll see you in the cafe.” 

They all agreed, sending sympathetic smiles and gentle goodbyes to the small boy on the floor scrambling to organise his papers in his hands. Harry quickly joined him, his large hands very easily gathering the scattered mess on the floor and handing them to Louis.

Louis kept facing down, too embarrassed to let Harry see his expression. He sniffled slightly, and then felt a finger underneath his chin, lifting his head up. Harry’s eyes searched his, before he gave him a soft smile.

“Alright?” 

His voice was so sweet and gentle, and it send Louis’ heart reeling. His knees felt weak and he didn’t know how he was supposed to remember how to speak. Luckily, he remembered to nod, his doe-eyes shining in slight awe. Having noticed, Harry smiled, letting go of his chin and wrapping his arms around Louis’ biceps (his entire hand was big enough to wrap completely around them, holy shit) and bringing him up to stand. 

“There we go,” Harry grinned, “how are you babe? Get enough sleep? We talked for quite a bit last night.” 

Louis blushed, fiddling with his papers. 

“I-I’m good, thank you,” he nodded, “I uh, I did oversleep a little bit this morning actually..” he trailed off before back-tracking, “n-not that it’s your fault or anything, sorry I d-didn’t mean to make it sound that way, I meant-”

“Hey hey hey,” Harry shushed him gently, “it’s alright Lou, I know what you meant. It’s fine. Sorry that you overslept. Guess your little body needs all the rest it can get to be able to function to support your smart little head, ey?” He grinned, enjoying Louis’ blush.

Louis flushed at the compliment, and the harmless digs at his size. It used to bother him - until he met Harry. He fish-mouthed for a few moments before clearing his throat.

“H-how are you Harry?” 

Harry’s grin widened so far, he was practically beaming, when Louis said his name. He looked almost proud of Louis, for initiating further conversation. 

“I’m good babe, thanks for asking. Listen, everyone’s meeting up at the cafe to get some lunch before our next lectures and I was going to ask if you want to join-” Harry began and Louis opened his mouth to protest, “but I’d prefer if we went to lunch together instead. Just you and I.”

“J-just you a-and I?” 

Harry nods.

“Um, but isn’t everyone waiting for you..?” Louis trailed off shyly. 

Harry shook his head and smiled, “it’s fine babe, I’ll text Liam or Barbara. Niall never checks his phone. I’d rather spend time with you.”

Louis blinked, stuttering. “R-really? With me? Y-you really want to?”

“Of course. Why wouldn't I?” Harry grinned, taking one of Louis’ hands and rubbing a thumb over the top. “I told you, I’d love to spend time with you.” 

Gulping, Louis nodded, watching Harry with pink cheeks. He let go of Louis’ hand and pulled out his phone.

“Let me just text Barbs and let’s go.” 

Louis froze at the mention of her.

“Girlfriend…”

“Hm?” Harry looked up from his phone.

“Is, is she y-your..?” Louis stammered quietly, getting frustrated with himself when his tongue kept twisting and his throat wouldn’t allow him to breathe properly. 

“I can’t hear you babe, what’s wrong?”

Taking a deep breath, Louis tried again. 

“B-Barbara said she’s t-the girlfriend…” Louis spoke and Harry nodded, “y-yours?” 

Harry blanched, blinking wildly. “What?”

“It-it’s just that, at the party, y-you and her, you…” he tried elaborating, not being able to say the c word.

“Louis, what? Barbara is Niall’s girlfriend.” 

Louis blinked. Swallowing harshly, he tried to understand the situation. Barbara is Niall’s girlfriend. So what about the-

“B-but, in your room, t-the, the…” 

Harry stared at him with furrowed eyebrows and a confused frown. 

“T-the condom.” He finally got out, closing his eyes tightly, hiding his face with his books.

A few beats of silence and Louis braved glancing at Harry. His eyes were wide and mouth open and he looked as if he finally understood a math problem he had spent an entire week on.

“That was, I was just, she asked for-” Harry stopped short, staring at Louis incredulously, “is that why you ran?” 

Louis stayed silent, fidgeting and chewing on his bottom lip.

“ _Oh,_ ” Harry breathed, then removed the books in Louis’ arms and set them on the floor quickly before wrapping him up in a hug, “oh baby no, that wasn’t what it looked like. God Louis you’re so cute, I’m so sorry, you must’ve thought I was such an asshole!” he laughed, kissing the top of Louis’ head, rocking them side to side slightly.

Louis stood frozen, heart racing and face red. What?

Harry pulled away, leaving one arm wrapped around Louis’ waist, the other carding through his feather-soft fringe then cupping his cheek, smiling at him so brightly that Louis felt like crying.

“Niall and Barbara were the ones getting it on, not Barbara and I - oh God I can’t even think about her that way, she’s too much like a sister to me. They didn’t have protection and asked me, that’s all there was to it.” Harry laughed, pressing a kiss to Louis’ forehead, “I must’ve looked awful, chatting you up and then looking like I was off to sleep with someone else.”

Louis gave him a watery smile, his eyes having filled up with tears and heart bursting with happiness. He was too happy to even feel embarrassed about misunderstanding the situation. It didn’t matter anymore. Harry held his face and looked him right in the eyes.

“Just so we’re clear, the entire night, I was flirting with you.” 

———————————————

“So, tell me about yourself.” Harry grinned, sipping his green tea and leaning forward, watching Louis who was opposite him in the quaint cafe that Louis suggested.

“Um, what would you like to know?” Louis smiled shyly, wrapping his little fingers around his own cup of camomile flavoured tea, his sweater sleeves nearly hiding them. Harry watched the small movement with fond eyes.

“Anything. Everything. I want to know you babe.” 

Louis blushed, trying his very hardest to suppress his smile but failing miserably. His lips stretched so wide, his eyes crinkling at the corners. Seeing this, Harry’s reciprocating smile was so warm and loving, Louis didn’t know what to do with himself.

“Well… Um, my full name is Louis William Tomlinson. I’m 17, turning 18 on the 24th of December. My mum Jay lives back home in Doncaster with my 6 siblings. 5 little sisters and 1 baby brother. I um, I love to read? And I like sweet things a-and I wish to travel the World. My favourite colour is… perhaps lilac? And… and that’s it I guess, I’m-I’m boring I’m sorry.” 

Harry shook his head, still smiling fondly. “Not at all. I think you’re very interesting. Little Christmas miracle.”

Louis stuttered, hiding his face in his hands to which Harry chuckled, reaching over to remove them. “Don’t hide your face babe. I love to see you.”

Nodding, Louis smiled bashfully when Harry let go of his hands. “O-okay, your turn?” 

“Okay, my full name is Harry Edward Styles. I’m 19, gonna be 20 on the 1st of February. I have my mum Anne, step-dad Robin and older sister Gemma. They live in Holmes Chapel in Cheshire, which is where I’m from. I play football, I love sports and being active. And I love music also. My favourite colour is probably blue.” Harry grins. 

Louis giggled and bit his lip. “We have um…”

“What?” Harry hummed, smiling at him lovingly.

“Louis William and Harry Edward. We sound like royals.” Louis blushed, covering his mouth. 

Harry blinked then smirked. “We do, don’t we? We could be the new royal couple.” He winked. 

If this was a cartoon, Louis imagined his face would be candy apple red with steam coming out of his ears. He’s sure he should be feeling faint with most of the blood in his body constantly staying in his cheeks. 

Catching sight of the time on his wristwatch, Harry groaned. “Damn, I have a lecture in 10 minutes.”

“Oh,” Louis nodded, checking the time, “mine is in an hour, I’ll go back to my room,” quickly gathering his backpack he pulled out his wallet to pay for the tea, but was stopped by Harry.

“I got it Lou, don’t worry.” He smiled, placing $10 on the table before Louis could argue. 

Louis put his wallet back into his bag unsurely, smiling gratefully. 

Walking down the path to campus, Harry carried Louis’ bag as well as his own (ignoring any protests from the small boy) and they talked contently.

Reaching the point between campus and student halls, Harry returned the backpack and watched Louis fondly as he delicately fixed the backpack onto his back. 

“Um, so, thank you, for the tea and um, spending time with me. I, I really l-loved it…” Louis fidgeted with his fingers, his shy nature returning. 

“The pleasure was all mine babe. Listen, I was wondering.. Would you like to, maybe, possibly, um, go out? On a date? With me?” Harry asked, rubbing his hand on the back of his neck, for the first time not looking confident, and Louis was so endeared he nearly forgot how to speak.

“Um, I-I’d love to, I’d really really love to…” Louis mumbled, not being able to take his eyes off of the tall boy in front of him who beamed at his response. 

“That’s- you will, you’ll go? I’m so glad.” He smiled warmly, wrapping him up in another hug. This time Louis didn’t freeze, and wrapped shaking arms around Harry’s shoulders that he wouldn’t admit he struggled to reach, straining to stand on the very tips of his toes.

“I’ll text you later today okay? Have a good day beautiful.” Harry murmured into his ear and leaving a little kiss on the spot. Louis’ heart just about stopped and he could no longer speak, only nod as Harry pulled away and waved, walking off to catch his lecture.

Louis stood in silence for about a full minute. Little hands came up to hold his red hot cheeks. 

“ _Oh my God._ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy crap I haven't updated this since February. And I literally have no excuse. I'm just so lazy. And honestly was suffering a bit of writers block. Also, I'm studying journalism and creative writing at uni, so that kind of turned me off of writing a bit if I'm honest haha. BUT I am determined to finish this disgustingly fluffy fic. And hopefully then start on a much better one afterwards. Hopefully there are still people who want to continue to read this, or start it fresh or whatever. It's so fluffy I am actually a bit ashamed to post it if I'm honest but. Ah well. ENJOY? 
> 
> And find me on tumblr @ louist91-harrys94 !


	4. 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO. Is this the most overdue chapter in the history of writing? Most probably. If you're still here, thank you for that. If you're a new reader, welcome. I promise I will let you down a lot. It's a pleasure, nice to meet you. 
> 
> Also a massive thank you to every single person who commented on my note chapter (which I had stupidly deleted before I replied to everyone, thus losing all the comments. I apologise for rambling about my silly problems in that post). You are the reason this poor chapter is here today. I have decided to pull through and finish this story, no matter how bad it is. I want to start something new, and I promise I will, and I will plan it and edit it a lot more, make it hopefully more readable and more everything that this story isn't. 
> 
> Without further ado, please read this rather disappointing, quite long, unedited, probably riddled with mistakes chapter. It's currently 9:15am and I haven't slept yet. I promise to read over it and fix all of the mistakes when I find them. I just really wanted to get this out. Enjoy.

 

After several days filled with flirty texts, brief meetings and encouraging friends, it was Saturday and Louis found himself rubbing his hands on his dark denim skinny jeans and straightening his short sleeve white button up shirt that had a light blue bird pattern. He was nervous and Perrie and Eleanor could see it. He wouldn’t stop fidgeting, always either fiddling with his collar or fixing a piece of hair that doesn’t need to be fixed. Perrie had styled his fluffy locks into a more windswept look that allowed for a clearer view of his face.

 

“Relax Lou, this night is going to be perfect.” Eleanor grinned, sitting down on the bed beside him.

 

He glanced up with wide eyes, “How do you know? Chances are I’ll make a complete fool out of myself, do something embarrassing and Harry will probably never want to be seen with me ever again and I’ll have to leave university and move to Australia, though the spiders, I’m not sure I could-”

 

“LOUIS.”

 

He snapped his mouth shut quickly, cheeks pink.

 

Perrie sighed, joining the two on the bed. She patted Louis’ knee.

 

“You know how we know?”

 

When Louis just blinked at her, she continued.

 

“Harry already seems to be completely infatuated with you babe. It literally is a bit embarrassing how obvious he is. You could probably rob an old lady in front of him and he’d still want to spend more time with you. Everything will be alright, just let things flow naturally and you’ll see for yourself,” Perrie grinned, “just be yourself, as cheesy as that sounds, and enjoy your night with the gentle giant.”

 

Louis giggled at the nickname, giving both of his friends a grateful smile.

 

“I love you guys, thank you so much.”

 

Right as he finished speaking, a knock sounded on the door. Louis felt his heart stop for a split second before it began racing. He glanced at the clock and noticed that it was five o’clock on the dot. Sweat gathered in his little palms so he rubbed them on his jeans again.

 

Getting encouraging nods from Eleanor and Perrie, he made his way towards the door and took a deep breath before opening it and revealing his date.

 

Harry grinned, his eyes sparkling. He looked so handsome, layered in a white t-shirt, opened red flannel button up and a sleek black blazer on top. His skinny jeans looked painted on and his feet were adorned in fancy looking boots. Quaffed up curls completed his look. Louis blushed intensely, feeling so small in front of him, and kind of disbelieving that someone as beautiful as Harry would want to be seen with someone like him, none the less go on a date with him.

 

“Hi beautiful,” Harry breathed, smile wide, “you look so pretty babe, so stunning.”

 

Louis didn’t even have enough time to gasp before Harry was reaching down and wrapping the boy up in a warm hug. His face was pressed into Harry’s chest and he couldn’t deny the way his body melted into him. His arms felt like home.

 

“H-hi,” Louis whispered, bringing his arms around Harry’s neck and having to stand on the tips of his toes to do it.

 

Harry pulled back and smiled down at the lovely boy in front of him.

 

“Ready to go?”

 

———————————————

 

“S-so um, where are we going?”

 

“Well! First we’re going to get some dinner,” Harry grinned, clicking his blinker to turn left, “then afterwards it’s more of a surprise, you’ll see. Get comfortable little one, because we’ve got over an hour in the car.”

 

Louis fiddled with his fingers, blushing. Spending longer than an hour in a small-enclosed space with someone as attractive and confident as Harry was terrifying. But more so, he was excited. The fact that Harry is going to take him somewhere that’s not only an hour away but there’s also a surprise at the end suggests to him that possibly Harry thought about this quite a lot, that he made plans and he came to some sort of conclusion, something like ‘ _Louis will like this_.’ It makes his heart race. At least he likes to believe that’s how the thought process went.

 

Louis struggled to keep up with the small talk, his shyness made his stutter worse so he felt extremely grateful to Harry for taking on the bulk of the talking. The hour-long drive to whichever restaurant they were going to felt like a breeze and a century at the same time. He had managed to learn a lot more about Harry, his family, and he had also found out that Harry was studying economics and English. Neither of those subjects he was expecting Harry to be partaking in but it made sense when he remembered the economics and literature books he saw littering the tables and cupboards in Harry’s room.

 

“I don’t know, I’ve always been decent at numbers and I like statistics, I like economics so I went for it,” Harry explained, concentrating on the road, “and English is more of a subject I took for pleasure. I’ve always loved to read and write. I’m also on the college football team.”

 

Louis smiled, fully engaged and eyes shining with fascination. Harry glanced at him and smirked, cheeks going slightly pink at the attention he was receiving from the small boy. Louis’ heart fluttered at the sight and he felt proud of himself, for once not being the one blushing.

 

“Liam tells me you’re doing psychology also?”

 

“Yes,” Louis nods, immediately getting excited at talking about his favourite subject, “I love psychology, it’s super interesting isn’t it? There’s so much to do, so much to think about. Human behavior, how the mind works, your memory and your sleeping patterns, relationships and reactions, I’ve always been so curious about how people act and why they are who they are, it’s so-”

 

Louis cut himself off as he realized how terribly he was rambling. Blushing hotly he looked down, clearing his throat. Squeezing his eyes shut, he chanted ‘ _stupid, stupid, stupid_ ’ inside his head.

 

“It’s so what?”

 

Louis’ eyes snapped open and over to Harry. He was still looking at the road but his lips were pulled into a beautifully bright smile.

 

“I love it when you tell me things about yourself little one, seeing your excitement and enthusiasm about something is more endearing than you would believe. So please don’t be shy, even if you think you’re rambling. I want to hear everything you have to say, okay?”

 

Louis was already struggling to breathe. It didn’t help when Harry blindly reached over and grabbed one of his hands and brought it up to his mouth, kissing his knuckles gently. Louis was genuinely worried his heart was going to beat out of his chest.

 

“U-um. I, o-okay. T-thank you Harry, you’re… just thank you.” Louis stuttered out, gripping the hand that Harry kissed. The skin felt like it was tingling. He turned and gave him a shy but sincere smile, which Harry returned.

 

The rest of the time flew by.

 

Arriving at the restaurant, Harry parked carefully and rushed out of the car, almost tripping over his own feet just to get to Louis’ door before he could open it himself. Louis was too shocked at Harry’s sudden movements to even reach for the door handle himself. Harry opened his door and gestured out with his arm, smiling widely. Louis giggled and stepped out, whispering ‘thank you kind sir.’

 

The restaurant was called Chakra and it looked like the perfect mix of fancy and modern. It looked pricey and that worried Louis a little bit, but he wasn’t going to dwell on it. Tonight is his first date ever, with an incredible guy at that, and he was not going to let anything let anything ruin it. No matter what happens, even if he embarrasses himself, even if Harry probably will realize he never wants to see Louis again, he’s going to enjoy tonight.

 

The inside of the restaurant was stunning. The interior was incredibly aesthetically pleasing, the lights were turned down enough to give the place a romantic glow and there was a massive palm tree in the middle of the place that tied the room together. Most of the tables were simply out on the large floor, but there were also a couple of booths that looked very romantic as they were separated by white draping.

 

A beautiful waitress approached them with a perfect smile.

 

“Reservations for Styles, please,” Harry grinned pleasantly, placing his hand on the small of Louis’ back.

 

The young woman nodded, picking up two menus and gesturing to follow her with a polite ‘right this way’.

 

They were led to one of the beautiful booths with the draping. Louis was blushing the entire time as they situated themselves across from each other. The placing felt so intimate. Louis wasn’t sure he was going to survive this date after all.

 

“Your assigned waitress will be over in a few to get your order, hope you gentlemen enjoy your night,” the waitress smiled and then walked away after handing them their menus.

 

Harry looked at Louis over the menu, smirking when Louis blushed. There was silence for a few moments before Harry asked him what he wanted.

 

A few minutes of chattering over drink and food options, a new waitress approached the table. Harry smiled widely the moment he made eye-contact with her, which she returned.

 

“Thank you so much for this,” Harry said, standing up quickly to give her a one-armed hug. Louis sat silently, watching the interaction.

 

“Anything for you Haz. So this is him?” the waitress grinned, staring down at the small boy who blushed again at the attention.

 

“Yeah, this is Louis,” Harry breathed happily, turning his sparkling eyes to the boy then gesturing to the waitress, “Louis, this is Alexa, she’s an old friend, and also the savior who helped me get this table tonight.”

 

Louis gave a polite smile, stretching out his hand to her, “N-nice to meet you.”

 

“You too babe.” Alexa shook his hand enthusiastically, “Gosh Haz, you weren’t lying when you said he’s adorable!”

 

Louis’ cheeks burned red as Harry chuckled. Alexa smiled at the dynamic between the two boys and finally pulled out her notepad.

 

“What can I get for you two?”

 

———————————————

 

When Alexa walked away with their orders, Harry turned to Louis.

 

“I’ve known her for ages, we met back in London. This place is rather well known, quite hard to get a table on such short notice but because she works here, she helped me out, hope you don’t mind.” Harry grinned sheepishly.

 

“Y-you didn’t need to trouble yourself! I would’ve been completely fine with a simple diner around the corner from uni, a-as long as I’m w-with you…” Louis trailed off, embarrassed, “Thank you Harry. This is incredible.”

 

Harry watched him for a few moments before giving him the softest, most loving smile Louis had ever seen. He could feel his heart skip a beat.

 

“You’re more than worth it Lou.”

 

———————————————

 

Chakra was definitely a culinary experience. Louis couldn’t remember when was the last time he had eaten a meal that had tasted that good. Although no food or restaurant compared to his company.

 

They had spent over two hours at their table, drinking sparkling water and non-alcoholic cocktails, eating incredible food and sharing a sweet desert of banoffee cheesecake. Louis had never shared as many memories and facts about himself with a person in one evening. He couldn’t remember when he had last laughed as hard as he did. Every minute in that restaurant, with Harry by his side, was his definition of perfect.

 

When they paid (Louis wanted to pay his share, but Harry had sneakily already paid their tab when he pretended to go to the bathroom) and left, Louis bravely reached out and grabbed Harry's hand (although his own was shaking.)

 

“Thank you so much for tonight Haz,” Louis mumbled, not looking up at him.

 

They had nearly reached the car before Harry stopped them, in the middle of the parking lot. Louis’ heart was pounding as Harry tightening his grip on his hand. Louis looked up and saw that Harry’s eyes were sparkling, as they had done most of the evening, and Louis couldn’t believe that was for him.

 

“Thank you too Louis. Thank you for coming out for me,” he smiled, bringing up a hand and lightly brushing it through Louis’ fringe, “I know I’m probably not your ideal sort of type, so thank you for giving me a chance.”

 

Louis searched his eyes silently, before giving him a smile so wide, it could only be described as a beam. Harry returned it wholeheartedly.

 

“But first things first, tonight is not over yet!”

 

———————————————

 

They had been driving for fifteen minutes and Harry refused to tell him what their destination was. It was the constant repetition of ‘ _you’ll see!_ ’ that made Louis give up and patiently wait. He was bundled up in a massive hoodie that belong to Harry which he had left in the car, as the temperature had dropped enough to make him shiver and he refused Harry’s blazer when he offered it to him because he didn’t want Harry to be in just a t-shirt and flannel. To compromise, Harry gave him the hoodie he found on the backseat. He helped him into it and cooed once he saw how much the hoodie hung on his small frame. It was completely endearing.

 

When Harry pulled up to an empty car park, Louis glanced out of the window and made out the sign saying ‘Montclair State University.’ To say he was confused was an understatement.

 

“Montclair?”

 

Harry turned to him with a bright smile.

 

“You’ll see.”

 

It was just past nine, as well as a Saturday, so the campus was completely vacant. It was already dark outside which normally would freak Louis out a little bit but this time he was hardly bothered by it, because all he could concentrate on was the feeling of Harry’s warm hand completely engulfing his small one as they walked to wherever Harry was taking them.

 

They had approached a department that was separate from the main campus, with a rather large dome-like roof. Louis watched Harry as he let go of his hand and pulled out a set of keys, unlocking the double doors and then opening them. He still offered no explanation, but he offered his hand again as he led Louis into the pitch-black room.

 

Harry got out his phone and flicked on the flashlight, giving them a bit of vision. He asked for Louis to do the same with his phone so that they could see more. All Louis could make out was a spacious room with a lot of seats. He still couldn’t figure out what this was.

 

Harry led him further into the room before stopping them both. He turned to Louis and put his arms on his shoulders, giving him a wide grin.

 

“Alright, I need to go do something, so please wait here for me, okay?”

 

Louis’ eyes went wide and his stomach fell a little bit.

 

“Y-you’re gonna leave me alone in the dark?” He asked nervously, “please don’t!”

 

“It’s okay little one, I promise,” Harry smiled softly, caressing his cheek quickly, “I promise I will be gone for less than a minute! You’re completely safe here baby, I promise you that. Just wait for me, alright?”

 

Harry didn’t move until Louis gave him a small, uncertain nod. With that, he turned around and dashed off. All Louis could see was the pale blue light from his iPhone floating away. He looked down at his own phone and realized his hands were shaking. Instead of psyching himself out, he decided to take more of a look around.

 

The place looked like a sort of mix between a theater and a lecture room. However, he couldn’t see a screen or a podium. The room seemed to be quite circular. He had never been in a room like this before so he couldn’t really figure it out. He didn’t have to continue wondering for any longer, because it became clear.

 

The room illuminated in a dark blue light, and the ceiling lit up.

 

It was a planetarium.

 

Louis’ mouth had dropped open as he twirled around in a circle slowly, looking up at the incredible view above him. The dome-like ceiling was completely covered in stars – there were so many constellations and shades of the galaxies. They were moving, floating at a speed that was barely noticeable. It just made the whole room look alive. It was the most amazing thing he had ever seen in his life. His heart was ready to beat out of his chest.

 

“Do you like it?”

 

Louis snapped his head over to see Harry who had returned, watching him with careful and soft eyes.

 

“I-,” he was at a loss for words, “t-this is… this is _incredible_.”

 

Harry walked towards him, offering him a hand again, which Louis did not hesitate to take. After tonight, Louis would trust Harry with his life.

 

“My friend Jeff, he goes here, studies astronomy. This is in his department, and he was able to get the keys to this place for me, after I had begged him for a rather long time,” Harry chuckled, leading them towards a row of seats and making themselves comfortable, “but it was worth it, because I really wanted to show you this.”

 

Louis still couldn’t look away from the ceiling.

 

“This is the most amazing thing I think I have ever seen,” he breathed in awe then turned to Harry with eyes bright enough to match the stars, “I think tonight was potentially the best night of my life.”

 

He said that so seriously, with such certainty, that it made Harry chuckle, but he also found himself thinking ‘ _me too_ ’. He watched the boy turn back to the ceiling, watched his pink lips whisper ‘wow’ as he examined the artificial constellations, and he felt his heart flutter.

 

Harry was the serious relationship type. He preferred love and affection to fun and sex. Most people wouldn’t expect it because his attitude doesn’t exactly coincide with his views. He seemed like the typical worry-free reckless frat boy. Which, he supposed he was. He partied more than he didn’t, he fell asleep in lectures more often than not, he lived in a frat house, he was the football quarterback and knew almost every person on campus. He just didn’t tend to give himself away to people if there were no feelings involved. And usually, he spent ages figuring out his feelings, whether he actually wanted to be with a person. But with Louis, he just knows.

 

In his eyes, everything about the petite boy was perfect. From his fluffy hair, ocean eyes, thin lips, delicate features, and small stature. He was so shy yet he had so much to say. He was undeniably smart, so mature for his age. Everything about Louis drew Harry in.

 

“I just really want to spend time with you, just us two.” Harry explained, glancing up at the starry ceiling.

 

“At uni, there’s always someone around. At the restaurant, people surrounded us. It was us, but not _just_ us. This – this is perfect. Just me, you, and the stars.”

 

As Harry explained, he was rubbing his thumb over Louis’ knuckles.

 

“This is more perfect than I could have ever imagined,” Louis told him, showing a beautiful smile.

 

Everything was so beautiful. The stars were incredible, Louis’ eyes were so bright, his cheeks were so pink, that Harry couldn’t stop himself from leaning in.

 

“Can I kiss you?” His voice was a whisper.

 

Louis couldn’t believe his ears but he didn’t have enough time to come to terms with what was happening, before he nodded and then Harry’s lips met his.

 

It felt like seeing the stars all over again. That moment, when he realized the entire room was lit up with constellations – the beauty of it, the awe he felt, the love that was building at a ridiculously scary pace for the tall boy front of him – he felt all of those feelings combine into one and burst inside of him. He was certain it wasn’t healthy to feel so much for a boy he had met so recently.

 

 _So this is what first love feels like_.

 

———————————————

 

It was almost three hours later when the two boys remembered time existed and the World hadn’t stopped for them, even if that’s what it felt like. Everything about the time and the location was perfect and they both wouldn’t deny not wanting to ever leave. However, they knew they had an hour drive back to Princeton and it was nearing midnight.

 

After turning off the projectors and locking up the door, both boys walked back to the car swinging their entwined hands with bounces in their steps and massive smiles on their faces.

 

Louis was on a high. After having had the best date, best night and best kiss of his life, he was in a state of euphoria. He was undeniably infatuated with the boy who was holding his hand.

 

The entire ride home, Harry held Louis’ hand, rubbing his thumb over his knuckles and peppering kisses over them every few minutes. Neither of the boys stopped smiling.

 

The car pulled into the parking lot of Louis’ dormitory a little passed one in the morning. Harry walked Louis to his door silently. Stopping at the ledge, the boys stood in front of each other for a few quiet moments. Then Harry placed his fingers under Louis’ chin and tilted his head up, leaning down himself, pressing another kiss to his lips. It was completely innocent, sweet and perfect.

 

“I’ll see you again soon baby,” Harry whispered against his lips. Louis nodded with his eyes still closed.

 

“Goodnight,” he whispered back.

 

“Sweet dreams Lou.”

 

———————————————

 

Waking up in the morning, Louis wondered whether last night was a dream. He wasn’t sure how such a perfect night could have possibly been reality. But when he unlocked his phone and the first notification he saw was a text from Harry saying ‘ _good morning beautiful, brunch?_ ’ he knew, by some miracle it was real and this was his life now.

 

He skipped into the kitchen for his morning cup of tea, not even noticing his two best friends watching him with glints in their eyes.

 

“SO,”

 

Louis shrieked, his hand on his heart as he spinned around to face Perrie and Eleanor.

 

“We take it went well?” Eleanor smirked.

 

Louis stared for a few minutes before running towards them and dropping into their arms.

 

“Oh guys,” he gushed, squeezing the girls, “it was so perfect!”

 

After a full run down of the whole night, the girls were absolutely beaming at the small boy who couldn’t stop blushing and fidgeting and rambling on about his, as he described, ‘magical evening.’

 

“So what are you guys?”

 

Louis glanced up, “Hm?”

 

“I mean, did he ask you to be boyfriends, or anything?” Perrie asked.

 

Gulping, Louis shook his head.

 

“N-no, he didn’t mention anything…” he trailed off, “is that bad? Should he have? Should _I_ have? I don’t-”

 

“Louis!” Perrie took hold of his hand, “sorry babe, I didn’t mean anything by it, don’t think it’s bad at all, don’t worry about it! It’s just a label anyway, he’s clearly infatuated with you.”

 

Louis felt a _tiny_ bit better, but not quite. Harry told him about how much more he preferred serious relationships. That to him almost signifies that Harry would prefer labels. But he hadn’t asked Louis to be his anything last night. He did kiss him. He asked Louis out to brunch today, so he obviously wants to see him again. Unless, what if it’s to tell him he had a good time but would prefer to be just friends?!

 

He felt himself deflate.

 

Eleanor glared at Perrie, to which she guiltily shrugged.

 

After drinking his tea and saying bye to the girls, Louis went to get ready to meet Harry. He couldn’t stop thinking, going over every scenario in his head. He figured it was pointless. No matter what the verdict was, he’ll never know unless he hears it. He had to prepare himself for anything. If last night, as amazing as it was, were a one-off thing, then he would have to deal with it. No matter how much his heart stung at the thought.

 

Once he was fully ready, he walked outside and waited for Harry, where he promised to pick him up so they could go out to eat.

 

“Little one!”

 

Louis didn’t have time to react before he was wrapped up in two strong tattooed arms. The unmistakable scent of Harry was making his heart go crazy and he momentarily forgot all of his insecurities.

 

Harry pressed a kiss to his forehead, beaming down at the boy.

 

“Good morning babe, how are you? Sleep well?”

 

Louis nodded shyly, “I-I’m good yeah, thank you. What about you?”

 

“I slept great!” Harry grinned as they began walking over to his car, “woke up a bit scared that last night was a dream but I’m really glad that it wasn’t.”

 

As he said this, he took ahold of Louis’ hand, entwining their fingers. His eyes were so soft as they locked with Louis’.

 

He couldn’t help smiling.

 

“Me too.”

 

They drove to a small diner a few minutes away from campus and settled down at a table by a window.

 

Louis kept playing with his fingers and biting his lip. He couldn’t figure out how to bring up the conversation of ‘what are we’. Is it too presumptuous? Does Harry really like him like that? Or maybe he doesn’t want a relationship right now? Or is it too soon maybe? Do they have to go on more dates before breaching that topic? Is he-

 

“Louis.”

 

His head snapped up quickly to look at Harry who was giving him a concerned look.

 

“Something is bothering you. What is it?” He asked gently.

 

“Um, just s-something Perrie said,” Louis chuckled, looking uncomfortable, “it’s nothing, really.”

 

“Are you sure? Because it seems to me like you can’t stop thinking about it.”

 

Silence.

 

“Lou, you don’t have to tell me,” Harry began, placing his hand over both of Louis’ that were resting on the table, “but if you want to, you know you can trust me.”

 

“…She um, s-she asked me if, if we were… b-boyfriends…” Louis trailed off awkwardly, “I just didn’t know what to t-tell her, is all.” He chuckled, trying to brush off his embarrassment, but he felt his eyes sting a little. His chest was aching still.

 

“Oh.”

 

 _Oh God_.

 

“Well, why didn’t you just say yes?”

 

_Oh God, he’s going to – wait, what?_

 

“What?” Louis gaped at him.

 

Harry scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

 

“I mean, I know I never really properly asked but, I thought I made it quite obvious I really want to spend more time with you. So, since I see that didn’t translate as well as I thought, I’m asking you now. Will you be mine?” He finished, flourishing a bright smile showing his perfect white teeth.

 

Louis’ jaw was still hanging, mouth open. His face was hot red.

 

“I-I, um, I, p-please?” He stuttered, eyes wide and so hopeful, sparkling with joy, “I want to, please, yes!”

 

Harry chuckled, leaning forward and grabbing a hold of Louis’ chin to bring him in to a kiss.

 

“Good.” He whispered against his mouth. The feeling of Louis’ lips spreading into a giddy smile made his heart fill up with adoration.

 

 _Boyfriends_.

 

———————————————

 

Sunday passed and the week was beginning all over again. Louis had just gotten out of a French seminar, when he heard his name being called out. Turning to look, he spotted Harry, who was joined by Niall, Liam and Zayn. They all held gym bags.

 

Louis shivered at the sight of his boyfriend. He still wasn’t used to it, it seemed like a dream. He had a _boyfriend_. An incredibly lovely, sweet, beautiful boyfriend.

 

He gave him a smile and walked over timidly. He wasn’t yet sure how to act with Harry in front of others, he wasn’t sure if Harry wanted anyone to know they were a couple or not.

 

He supposed he didn’t need to think much about that, because as he approached Harry, the tall boy grabbed him around the waist and pulled him into a deep kiss. The other boys wolf whistled and cackled.

 

Louis felt like he could die and come back to life on the spot. This was too much for his little heart.

 

“Come on, let the boy breathe Haz,” Liam chuckled from behind them.

 

Harry pulled away reluctantly, licking his lips to savour the taste of the kiss, which made Louis’ blush even more intense.

 

“Hi beautiful,” he murmured, stroking over his red cheek, “you alright?”

 

Louis nodded shakily, “Yeah,” he breathed with dazed eyes. The sight made Harry smirk.

 

“We’re going to football practice. I’d love it if my boyfriend came to watch me.”

 

“Um, o-okay,” he agreed, still trying to get his brain to function properly. He wasn’t used to kisses like that. He wasn’t used to kisses, period.

 

“Good!” Harry grinned, throwing his arm over Louis’ shoulders.

 

“Hey Louis, good to see you again,” Liam greeted. Louis gave him a nod and a polite smile.

 

“Hey Lou! Got our Harry here pretty whipped don’t ya?” Niall grinned cheekily, which got him a slap on the shoulder from Harry. All Louis could do was blush. Harry looked down at him and admired the blushing boy, pecking his forehead.

 

“Hi Louis,” Zayn gives him a smile and a wave which Louis returns.

 

“Did you just come out of a session?” Harry asks as they begin their trek down to the football fields.

 

“Mhm, just had a French seminar.” Louis grinned up at him.

 

“Wait, you do French?” When Louis nods, Harry groans, “God baby, that’s so sexy, I swear you’ll be the death of me.”

 

Louis blushed, _again_ , covering his face with the books he was carrying. The other boys cooed and laughed lightheartedly, whistling again when Harry moved the books away and leaned down to kiss Louis again.

 

Louis was pretty sure he was going to have a permanent blush throughout his entire relationship with this boy.

 

The fields were lively, with the cheerleading squad finishing up practice to give the field up to the football team, and some of Harry’s teammates already warming up. ‘Go Tigers!’ posters were hung up around the entire place.

 

“Go find a seat on the bleachers, somewhere close so I can see you, we’re only gonna be a moment babe,” Harry told him before running off with the boys to the lockers.

 

Louis walked over and sat on the bleachers, close to the field, still shaky from the blushing and the giddiness he felt. He set down his backpack and placed the books he was holding inside, and brought out his bottle of water and bag of apple slices.

 

“Hi?”

 

He looked up and made eye contact with a blonde girl in a cheerleading uniform who was eyeing him curiously, a couple of girls behind her also.

 

“H-hello,” he replied nervously.

 

“You know Harry?” The blonde her spoke again, looking him up and down not too subtly.

 

“Y-yes, he’s my…” _Come on Louis just say it, be brave, this will be your first time officially coming out to a stranger_.

 

“Your… friend?” She supplied with a raised eyebrow.

 

“U-um, b-b… boyfriend,” he stuttered out finally, “he’s my boyfriend.”

 

 _Oh my God I did it_. Louis smiled to himself, feeling proud. He looked up at the girl with a grin but it fell when he noticed her twisted expression.

 

“What, seriously?” She chuckled, but her voice held no humor, “ _you_? Try again darling.”

 

Louis blinked, feeling confused.

 

“W-what do you mean?” He furrowed his eyebrows worryingly, “I’m not lying…”

 

The girl glanced back at her companions who were snicker. She turned back with a cold smirk.

 

“As if Harry would even lay a hand on a little nerd like you, like you’re any good. Get a grip. I suggest you leave before you embarrass yourself.” With that, she turned around and strutted off with her friends to join the rest of the cheerleaders who were standing by the sidelines and waiting on the football team to watch them practice, presumably.

 

Louis felt a little bit cold inside. He had dealt with light bullying and teasing throughout his life, it was nothing new. But he had never been told he wasn’t exactly good enough for someone. He knew she was just trying to rile him up and bother him, he knew it but it didn’t stop the insecurity. It’s almost instinctual for him. He’s used to feeling smaller, in every sense of the word.

 

He hadn’t even noticed when Harry came back.

 

“Hey baby, we- what’s wrong?” He asked, crouching down in front of the boy.

 

Louis shook his head, giving him a small smile.

 

“It’s nothing, I’ll tell you later, promise,” he told him, bringing up his delicate hand and brushing his fingers over Harry’s cheek. “You look so good in your uniform.”

 

It was true. His muscular thighs stood on amazingly in the tight white spandex, and the black and red jersey with his number 17 and last name looked so good. He was so handsome, looking at him could make anyone feel a bit weak. Louis still couldn’t believe this boy wanted him.

 

“Alright, I’ll see you in a bit then. Make sure to watch me baby boy,” Harry winked, running off towards the field.

 

Louis was pretty sure he was flushed from head to toe.

 

_I’m sorry heart, but for as long as this boy wants me, you’ll have to deal with beating erratically._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That probably was hardly worth the wait wasn't it? I'm sorry. I disappoint myself on a daily basis, I'm sad haha.
> 
> I have added an extra chapter because I decided I want this story to have an epilogue. This story is poorly thought out and doesn't have much of a plot, it's literally just all fluff, which I intended it to be, I don't have the heart or talent for proper angst. Maybe someday I'll write something with more emotion than this cliche stuff.
> 
> Also, things in this chapter that have been made up:  
> \- Montclair State University doesn't have a planetarium (it does have an observatory though)  
> \- Probably something else that I can't remember right now.
> 
> And yes, Chakra is a real restaurant. If you're in Paramus, you might've heard of it.
> 
> Anyway, hopefully, by some sliver of a miracle, you have enjoyed this chapter and you're looking forward to the next one? If yes, then thank you so much and I'll see you soon. If no, then I apologise, I do not blame you! Either way, thank you so much for reading.
> 
> PS - next chapter will most probably have smut. Maybe. Possibly.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a little story I'm working on. I was intending to write it as a one-shot, but I decided to complicate Louis' character a little bit and figured one long chapter wouldn't be enough to address some things, so I pro-longed it a bit and hopefully y'all will find his character as lovable as I do right now. It won't be dark or anything, if that's what you're wondering. This will be rather lighthearted and fluffy. May include some tears here and there I suppose. 
> 
> The idea for the length I've got as of right now is about 5 chapters, but if I get more ideas, or if people actually want me to make it longer, then I might increase the number. 
> 
> Find me on tumblr at louist91-harrys94(.tumblr.com of course). and if you're reading this, and post about it on tumblr, please use hashtag #lmlydtmlyd 'cause I'd love to see what people think.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed!


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